The No. 18 men’s lacrosse team gained its first victory of the season with a 10-9 win over No. 13 University of Albany-SUNY on Saturday afternoon at John Fallon Field.
Goalkeeper Peter “Stonewall” Lowell led the Pioneers with two crucial saves within the last minute of play. As the Great Danes made one final, frenzied push for overtime, Lowell stopped a behind-the-back attempt by Albany’s Dave Brock with one minute remaining to secure a 10-9 DU lead.
Then with only 17 seconds remaining and faced with an open Great Dane shot from the middle of the field, Lowell came through again.
He blocked the attempt from six yards out in front of the net, preserving a 10-9 Pioneer road victory. On the offensive side, Charley Dickenson netted three second-half goals and tallied three assists for DU. Senior Joey Murray also scored three goals while freshman attackman Alex Gajic added two more.
Coming off a 20-7 loss to nationally ranked North Carolina, the Pioneers started the first half running and gunning, opening a 4-1 lead by the two minute mark of the second period.
At the start of the second half, Albany netted three straight goals to take a 5-4 lead before Murray and Dickenson both added their second and third goals of the game to give DU a brief lead of 6-5.
In a back-and-forth game, DU broke a 6-6 tie with back-to-back goals in the last minute of the third period.
Attackman Cliff Smith broke the tie when he ripped a bouncer into the right side of net with 38 seconds remaining in the third period.
After driving from behind the net, Dickenson sniped his second goal of the third period with only one second left on the clock, putting DU up 8-6.
DU had unassisted goals by Murray and Dickenson in the final period.
Despite this 7-10 deficit, the Great Danes never gave up. Albany slipped two goals past Lowell to make it a one-goal game with just over three minutes remaining in the game. But Lowell found redemption in the last minutes of the game, preventing overtime and ensuring a “W” with two clutch saves. “We had a different mentality against Albany as a team than against UNC,” Baxter said. “We improved from last week as a team in ground balls, team defense and showed a more poised and confident offense. I would especially like to credit Lowell for stepping up big time in the goal. Overall, we had confidence in our offense and defense to have a strong fourth quarter and put a victory our win column.”
The Pioneers return to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. for their home opener against Sacred Heart.
